Evacuation flight: House of Rep chides embassy in UAE

The Chairman House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, Nnolim Nnaji has berated the Nigerian Embassy in United Arab Emirates for sabotaging the economic interests of Nigeria and Nigerian people.

Nnaji stated this while reacting to the marketing of Emirates Airlines’ charter flights by the embassy which urged stranded Nigerians in United Arab Emirates to buy the tickets describing the development as unfortunate.

He recalled that the House of Representatives had in June after adopting a motion on the continued use of foreign airlines to evacuate stranded Nigerians abroad mandated the Committee on Aviation to liaise with the Presidential Taskforce, (PTF) on COVID-19, the Ministries of Aviation and Foreign Affairs and their relivant agencies to ensure that only the indigenous airlines should carry out subsequent evacuation of stranded Nigerians abroad.

Nnaji who represents Nkanu East/West Federal Constituency of Enugu State in the House of Representatives said it was regrettable that Emirates has continued to evacuate stranded Nigerians from UAE with the active conivance of the officials of Nigerian Embassy in Abu Dhabi to the detrement of earlier agreement that only the Nigerian Airlines should henceforth be engaged for such evaluations.

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He condemned the continued use of foreign airlines for the evacuation flights saying that it was robbing the indigenous airlines the little opportunity of earning revenue at this period of severe financial meltdown facing them. ( Nigerian Airlines)

“All over the world, embassies and diplomats strive to promote and protect the economic interests of their nations but it is unfortunate that this has not been the case with our Embassy in UAE” Nnaji said.

Nnaji however called for serious investigations into the roles of the embassy officials in Abu Dhabi and if found culpable svere sanctions should be slammed against them.

He equally urged the PTF and Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Aviation as well as their agencies to step in and do whatever is required to safeguard the earlier agreement reached on this matter.

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.